This invention relates generally to information handling in a computer network. More particularly, it relates to providing a browser network service support, e.g., printing, in a computer network such as an intranet or Internet environment.
It is well known to couple computer systems in a computer network so that the system resources attached to respective systems may be shared. Expensive resources such as printers and storage not fully utilized by the single machine to which they are attached can be more productive. By aggregating resources so that they are accessible to all users, each user has access to many more resources than would be economically feasible to provide at each user""s desktop.
In recent years, many important developments have been made in network computing. The Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, has made a vast sea of data accessible to a multitude of users. It has become a cultural fixture in today""s society providing both information and entertainment. Government agencies are employing Web sites for informational purposes. Businesses are using the Internet for a variety of commercial efforts. Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to a company""s Web server are frequently part of television, radio or print advertisements. Once equipped with the URL, a consumer can utilize a Web browser which uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to retrieve a Web page from the Web server.
If the user is particularly interested in the Web page, he may wish to print the page to retain a permanent copy. If the user device is a personal computer, printing is typically accomplished by the browser requesting a local printer driver to send a local or remote printer a fully rendered version of the Web page. A typical printer driver can require one to two MB of disk space for installation purposes alone. When loaded with its associated system components, i.e. spooling system, raster banding/journaling code, port driver, the printer driver can consume large amounts of system memory. Since each printer driver is generally device specific, a plurality of printer drivers are required. Often each application requires its own set of drivers. Depending on the size of the jobs, number of print jobs and printer languages, the printer subsystem can require hundreds of megabytes of local storage. As one can see, the printer drivers and associated software can take up a significant portion of the system resources. Other services available in the network can require similar expenditures of local resources.
Other recent developments are the availability of inexpensive computers such as the xe2x80x9cnetwork computerxe2x80x9d and television set top devices such as WebTV. These systems are characterized by little local storage and use the central storage of a network far more extensively than a typical personal computer. To compete effectively on a price basis with their more capable brethren, there is a continual pressure to strip nonessential hardware and software. Thus, the presence of printer drivers are a burden to these systems.
Further, wireless, hand held devices have been devised which are also capable of retrieving Web data. These devices not only have to limit the hardware requirements from a price perspective, but from a space perspective as well. Since these devices are typically smaller than a piece of paper as well as wireless, it is difficult to conveniently connect a separate printer or other device.
One way to alleviate the storage requirements for these devices, would be to limit the users"" choices to single compatible printer; the manufacturer of the handheld device would sell one printer that is xe2x80x9chard codedxe2x80x9d for the device. In this scenario, if a user did not have that printer already, he would be forced to buy that printer. This approach denies the user the ability to choose his printer or make use of the network printer resources.
Thus, it is desirable to reduce or eliminate the need for a great number of printer drivers and associated resources at the thin clients. Further, it is desirable to allow users full access to the resources available in the network.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to print on a network printer from a thin client using a minimum of local resources.
It is another object of the invention to provide network services for web pages from the World Wide Web from a remote computing device.
It is another object of the invention to minimize the local resources devoted to network services from the World Wide Web.
It is another object of the invention to incorporate the print button providing web related network services for client devices.
These and other objects are accomplished by intercepting a document written in a markup language, such as HTML, and inserting a markup language string to create a modified document. When displayed at the client by the browser, a button characterized by the inserted markup language string is presented in the modified document for the network service.
The process begins with the request of a document from a web server by a web client. The requested document is intercepted by an intermediate server, such as a proxy server of the server of an Internet service provider. The intermediate server parses the markup language of the requested document to find an appropriate place to insert the button for a network service such as printing. Next, a markup language string is inserted in the requested document for a print button including a path to a print server to produce a modified document. The modified document is sent to the requesting client. The browser at the client presents the modified document on a display so that the print button is presented in the document. Upon selection of the print button, the client sends a print request to the print server. The document is then printed at a printer associated with the print server.